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“I’m not going to die.” My blue fingertips and the knowledge my lips were probably the same color were perhaps contradicting my argument, but we weren’t there yet.
“Sol.” His voice came with a mental bite.
“I’m not,” I insisted, wiping my face in a futile war with trying to get the water out of my eyes, but it dripped from my hand and right back to pool across my lashes, making my vision blurry. “There has to be something. Anything. A village or house.” But I couldn’t see or even tell if we were still on the road.
“It’s either find a place to shelter and warm up, or we leave the horses, and I’ll fly.”
“You can’t fly in this. It will be more dangerous than being on the ground.” Wing gusted, driving the rain even harder, making my point.”
“If we can get above the worst, we might see a place to wait it out from the sky.”
It might be worth the chance, but guilt held me back. “The horses will die if we leave them out here.”
“If we do nothing, we all may die.” He stared into the driving rain. “In another candle mark, I’m not giving you a choice.”
We had to find somewhere. Please, Goddess. I nudged my horse on, determined to find a solution that didn’t put Nyx at risk in the sky and condemn the horses to death.
We rode in silence, and as the minutes ticked by, I begged the Goddess for anything.
“We have to stop,” Nyx called again. “Your lips are blue.”
“I’m okay.” My lips trembled as I spoke.
“I’m not giving you a choice.” Nyx turned in his saddle, making a final sweep with his eyes, but there was nothing to see. Darkness had descended even before dusk. When had it set in? The rain cast a thick blanket over the land, blotting out the sun, making it seem like night had arrived.
The darkness created another world. I’d never felt this alone. So isolated.
“Sol, I’m not kidding. We have to do something.” He put a hand to his forehead, peering out into the black. “There might be shadows off the road a ways out. It may be some rocks or trees.”
“What if there’s lightning? Is that a good idea?”
“It’s better than freezing to death. We can get in our tent.” His tone carried an edge.
“Shouldn’t we stay closer to the road rather than risk venturing out into a possible flood plain?”
“Whatever we are doing, we are doing it now. The horses won’t last much longer. We can’t hope for passersby, and you look like you are about to freeze to death. We need to make a decision.”
“What about you?” I asked pointedly.
“I keep heat better than you because of my fire. It’s you I’m worried about.”
“Worry about yourself,” I said, knowing I sounded a little like a petulant child. “If you trust me, you trust I won’t let myself die.”
He opened his mouth to speak but shut it and growled.
“We have to come upon a town soon. We have to. We need to keep going.”
Nyx rubbed his face. “You are entirely frustrating.”
“You like—” I cut myself off as something in the distance caught my attention, and I turned fully toward it, squinting.
“I like what…” Nyx trailed off, following my view.
I pointed. “Is that a light?”
Nyx frowned, leaning forward. “It is.”
“It’s something!” I urged my horse to hurry. I knew he was cold, too, but we had to make it.
